How to Build an Equitable Future through Environmental Justice in Colorado

I write today from the traditional territories of the Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ. The coral reefs I explored are in the water surrounding the traditional territories of the Mascogo, Matecumbe, and Taino. As a descendant of white, Western European settlers, I am working on understanding my place in various land and waterscapes and my relationship with the Indigenous people who continue to self-govern in these places.  

Changing Climate in Colorado  

I am home. The place looks different and, frankly, I am different. But I am home. Colorado held me through sun-soaked summers and slick winters for my entire childhood. I left almost 15 years ago in pursuit of the ocean, specifically coral reefs. 

Teeming with life, coral reefs are the big cities of tropical oceans. Hard coral builds the crucial foundation, permanently attaching to the shallow ocean floor. Algae-eating damselfish, bottom-cruising nurse sharks, and invertebrate-hunting trunkfish represent just a few of the creatures who maintain the balance required for a successful ecosystem. Scientists know hard corals lay a foundation of calcium carbonate over time and that coral can be cored like a tree, revealing years of evidence of cyclical climate change and ocean chemistry. I spent hundreds of hours underwater studying and observing the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on coral reefs – I remember the taste of the dry air I pulled through my regulator, and I remember the heartbreak of knowing more change was imminent. 

The discomfort of now knowing what the climate future holds for our human and nonhuman communities must be felt in simultaneity with the unevenly distributed impacts of climate change in our communities. Environmental justice tells us that the effects of climate change like drought, severe wildfires, and air pollution (and even the impacts from declining coral reefs and sea level rise) are felt more distinctly by Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color. There is evidence of this across the landscape of Colorado.  

The Colorado River, a water source for folks in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, and Mexico, is part of the Colorado River Compact. This agreement, signed nearly 100 years ago, dictates how much water can be consumed by upper basin users to ensure enough water makes it to the lower basin to make sure there is an equitable distribution of water. With the flow reduced, partially due to climate change, water utilities are considering strategies for water distribution and restrictions in the future. The Southern Ute tribe in southwestern Colorado relies on the Colorado River for functional uses and spiritual connection. People in the community are pushing to be included in future decisions about water rights, distribution, and decision-making. There are people in the community who still lack access to enough clean, safe water for drinking and bathing.  

The high-severity wildfires of the last few years impacted forests of trees like Douglas fir and Ponderosa pine. These iconic species, along with others like aspen and oak, help take up carbon – with fewer trees, it is more difficult to reach carbon neutrality. The burn scars, the damage left behind after an intense fire, compounded with high temperatures and drought make it hard for new seeds to take root and re-establish a population. As part of the ecosystem, humans feel the impacts of the fires acutely. 35,000 people were displaced and over 1,000 homes burned down during the Marshall Fire in December of 2021. Folks are struggling to rebuild after the Marshall Fire due to underinsurance and, according to the state’s data, less than 10 percent of homes lost in the Marshall Fire had the coverage needed to cover all the costs for rebuilding. 

I recently learned about ozone days and ground-level ozone in Colorado –ozone air pollution exacerbated by carbon emissions. In April 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency moved to downgrade the air quality measures in the northern Front Range area from serious to severe. With this in place, stricter emissions standards will be required to reduce carbon emissions that cause ground-level ozone. The history of redlining in cities throughout the US contributed to lower air quality in these locations because of their proximity to sources of pollution like thermal power plants, landfills, and highways. Redlining targeted communities of color meaning these folks were and are disproportionately exposed to air pollution.  

When I think of home, I think of the Colorado landscape. The distinct smells of mountain sage and Ponderosa pine bark warmed by the sun, the stunning sunsets, and imposing presence of the front range of the Rocky Mountains. Like witnessing the loss of coral reefs in tropical oceans, I grieve the loss of important Colorado ecosystems. I grieve the loss of lives to climate change. I do not highlight the climate change challenges experienced by Coloradans to leverage the pain felt in these communities but to galvanize our collective commitment to a more environmentally just future.  

At Equity Labs, we know that the outside world is not left at the door of the workplace. Now is the time to integrate environmental justice into your workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Find some starting places below and choose to consciously engage.  

1. “Attention is the beginning of devotion.” – Mary Oliver
   Give your team the gift of time to read, watch, listen, and engage with media that connects your field to the environment. Encourage conversations about how environmental changes are disrupting the daily lives of staff or possibly clients. Devote time to the conversation and encourage personal reflection on environmental justice in your field. 

2. “All that you touch You Change. All that you Change, Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change. God is Change.” – Octavia Butler 
   If you are like me and look to literature (fiction and nonfiction) to process climate change and environmental justice, the works of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color provide radical imaginings and paths to the actualization of a just society – environmentally, politically, relationally. The works of Octavia Butler, adrienne maree brown, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Eve Tuck, and Naomi Klein are good places to start.

3. “Our house is on fire. I am here to say, our house is on fire.” – Greta Thunberg 
   Come to this work, integrating environmental justice into your diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, with urgency.  If you have decision-making capacity in your organization invest and incentivize employee practices that reduce individual driving by considering EcoPass programs or working from home to reduce driving and consequently carbon emissions. Look for updates on the progress of the Environmental Justice Act signed into law in July 2021. This bill is intended to reduce environmental health disparities in disproportionately impacted communities.  

I am home and I am invested in building environmentally just and resilient communities.